The Free Gift

[Charlie24]

How is the free gift of salvation free if you have to make a decision to receive it? Some will say this is works or we aided in saving ourselves through this decision.

I think we will all agree that the salvation of the Lord is all of His doing and nothing from man, so how can it be free if we have to choose Christ to get it?

It's impossible for you to do anything that will merit your salvation. So God made a way for us to be granted His righteousness through a plan He devised before the foundation of the world.

He asked His Son to pay the price for you through what we know as the atonement.

When we accept the free gift by grace through faith, the price has already been paid, free of charge, by the mercy and grace of our Father.

 

[Ascetic X]

@Charlie24 - Choosing to accept a free gift is not paying or working for it. You answered your own question. “When we accept the free gift by grace through faith…”

If I offer you a box filled with millions of dollars in cash, you would need to take it from me. If you just stared at it and walked away, it would do you no good.

But if you took that box of money, it would be silly to say your taking it was working or paying for it. The box is free, but it will not force itself on you hyper-calvinistically.

Jesus, John the Baptist, and Peter commanded people to repent. Repenting is changing your mind so you can receive salvation by believing the gospel. None of that is payment or work.

The gospel is not “do nothing and just hope you are in the elect so you will somehow be saved.” The gospel is repent and trust in Christ’s death on the cross for your sins, and believe God raised Jesus from the dead to be your Lord.

 

[Charlie24]

@Charlie24 - Choosing to accept a free gift is not paying or working for it. You answered your own question. “When we accept the free gift by grace through faith…”

If I offer you a box filled with millions of dollars in cash, you would need to take it from me. If you just stared at it and walked away, it would do you no good.

But if you took that box of money, it would be silly to say your taking it was working or paying for it.

Jesus, John the Baptist, and Peter commanded people to repent. Repenting is changing your mind so you can receive salvation by believing the gospel. None of that is payment or work.

The gospel is not “do nothing and just hope you are in the elect so you will somehow be saved.” The gospel is repent and trust in Christ’s death on the cross for your sins, and believe God raised Jesus from the dead to be your Lord.

The benefits of the atonement are useless without repenting and believing in the finished work of Christ.

 

[atpollard]

Acts 2:37-41 [ESV]
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

When the people asked “What shall we do?”, why did Peter not reply “Nothing. God did it all.”?

What is “the promise” (v.39)?

Why did Peter “exhort” them (If NOTHING was required of them)?

“those who received his word” sounds an awful lot like “receiving the gift” … what is the difference?

Just throwing out some scripture for discussion.

 

[Charlie24]

Acts 2:37-41 [ESV]
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

When the people asked “What shall we do?”, why did Peter not reply “Nothing. God did it all.”?

What is “the promise” (v.39)?

Why did Peter “exhort” them (If NOTHING was required of them)?

“those who received his word” sounds an awful lot like “receiving the gift” … what is the difference?

Just throwing out some scripture for discussion.

"Receiving His word" was the very instant of salvation. They believed.

In that instant, justification before God was declared, sanctification- our position "In Christ" was declared by regeneration.

All together in that instant they received the free gift and became joint-heirs with Christ.

 

[Tea]

I think the problem that causes a lot of confusion sometimes is that we often talk past each other.

As a monergist, I believe that a person who is lost must choose to accept Christ. However, this choice can only happen after they have been transformed from a God hater into a God lover. At that point, the only choice they can make is to believe in Him, and they will never want to stop believing.

Syngergists, on the other hand, have things arranged quite differnetly. Every individual has the choice to either love or hate God. If they opt to love God and embrace Christ, they undergo a transformation and are reborn. However, they also have the option to return to being a God hater and revert back to their unborn state if they want to.

The monergistic understanding allows God to be in control of salvation, while the synergistic understanding allows man to be in control of salvation. One has God doing the work; the other has man doing the work.

 

[DaveXR650]

I think the problem that causes a lot of confusion sometimes is that we often talk past each other.

Indeed we do. I have only met a couple of non-Calvinists who when talking about how they were saved, don't sound a lot to me like monergists, who give all glory to God not only for the meritorious work of Christ but even for the circumstances and for what they perceive as being pursued by God in a relentless way. Look at the story of C.S. Lewis, as told by himself.

And, most strict Calvinist monergists I know, when approaching someone about the gospel, do so as if the person has a total right and a real opportunity to come to Christ for salvation and the only thing keeping them back is their own unbelief and lack of desire to do so. This was Owen's approach, and Jonathan Edwards and it is probably the only thing we can do with our limited human minds. And I believe that this is real, not just the perception of the "elect" as they are being brought in.

It seems like when it is all said and done, God really is totally sovereign and in control and yet, the offer of the gospel is true and real. For the vast majority of Christian laymen, like myself, who don't have to satisfy a creed or confession for professional or church affiliation reasons it's probably best to leave it there. I don't mind debating vigorously on a forum like this but would never argue like that around fellow church members as it could cause real hurt and division. In a way, that is a reason for these on-line formats.